Thursday, March 24, 2011

This recipe comes from the Kraft Foods website. It was very easy and turned out to be really yummy! It is kind of like a warm potato salad, but with great roasted potato flavor. I loved the bacon - (I love anything with bacon!) A nice change from the standard potato side dishes.

Monday, March 21, 2011

My daughter gave me a subscription for Everyday Food Magazine, and I love it! This month had several really yummy looking bar cookie recipes. This one stood out to me and I tried it yesterday and my husband and I both LOVED it! It is not too sweet and has a fresh taste from the raspberries. I know it is one I will be making often.

Pulse the natural almonds in the food processor until finely ground.

This is what the bars look like before they go in the oven. The parchment paper is optional, but sure makes it easy to lift the entire thing out and cut into bars! Neat little trick.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on two sides. In a food processor, pulse almonds until finely ground (you should have about 1 cup). In a large bowl, whisk together ground almonds, cornmeal, flour, sugar, and salt. add butter and stir until dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Press about two-thirds of the dough into dish. Scatter frozen raspberries over top and crumble remaining dough over raspberries. Bake until top is golden brown, 35-40 minutes. Let cool in dish on a wire rack before cutting into 9 bars. (Store, lightly wrapped in plastic, at room temperature, up to 3 days.)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

I love my kitchen, but it is small and doesn't have much cabinet space. For years I have struggled with where to store my spices so I can find things! The other day when I was getting ski gloves out of my closet (we have this shoe holder on the back of our closet door to keep gloves and hats, etc in) and I thought - "Why couldn't I keep my spices in this on the back of my pantry door?" I tried it today and it works! I am SO excited that I can see everything at once before me and I don't have to dig through bottles trying to find what I am looking for. Yahoo!!! It has 26 pockets in it. I put the spices in alphabetical order and could fit 2-3 bottles in each pocket. It works for me. (Now I need to go buy another one for the gloves and hats!)

Monday, March 7, 2011

I have never had much luck with making biscuits in the past! (think hockey puck-ish) Several years ago my daughter found this recipe in The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook that changed my luck. They don't look like your typical biscuit - they are a little more rustic looking, but they are light and fluffy and really yummy!

The hot and flaky finished biscuits!

This recipe uses cake flour along with all-purpose flour.

This recipe is made in a food processor. This is right after the cold butter is added.

The dough is cut into 12 pieces.

You quickly form the dough into rough balls.

Buttermilk Biscuits﻿

adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

A wet dough creates steam when the biscuits bake and promotes a light, airy texture. If the dough is too sticky for you to shape easily, lightly flour your hands and then form the biscuits.

1 c all-purpose flour, plus extra for the counter

1 c cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

8 TBSP (1 stick) butter, cut into 1/4- inch cubes and chilled

3/4 c cold buttermilk

1. Adjust oven tack to middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Pulse the flours, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a food processor to combine. Scatter the butter evenly over the top and pulse to combine, about 12 pulses.

2. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the buttermilk with a rubber spatula until the mixture forms a soft, slightly sticky ball.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and quickly form into a rough ball. Do not overmix. Use a sharp knife to divide the dough into 12 even pieces. Quickly and gently shape each piece into a rough ball and place on an ungreased baking sheet. (The baking sheet can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 hours.) Bake until the biscuit tops are light brown, 10-12 minutes.

What I Believe

About Me

I am the mom to four wonderful children who all married VERY well and I am the grandmother to 15 of the world's cutest, smartest, most wonderful children on this planet! I LOVE my wonderful husband of 39 years and I love my life.

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